Bible Strands
Judges 21:24
And at that time, each of the Israelites returned from there to his own tribe and clan, each to his own inheritance.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the immediate aftermath of the tribal conflict, recording how the assembled Israelites scattered from their gathering place to rejoin their ancestral territories. This occurs directly after the Benjamites secure wives and rebuild their cities.
The words — וַיִּתְהַלְּכ֞וּ (va-yithallekhû) translates literally to "and they dispersed" or "and they went on their way." לְשִׁבְט֖וֹ (le-shivtô) means "to his tribe," marking the return to pre-war tribal divisions.
The thread — The sequence continues in Judges 21:23, where the Benjamites settle into their inheritance, and resolves in Judges 21:25 with the statement that no king ruled Israel. The text moves from military assembly to tribal dispersal, framing the political vacuum that follows.
Why it lands — The verse records the factual return to tribal inheritances before the narrator's editorial comment on moral and political fragmentation. It requires the reader to note the structural shift from unified action to decentralized autonomy without endorsing either state.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.